Mumbai gang-rape horrible, stop politicising it: Azmi

Actor feels it is shocking that people do not fear the law and order system.

India has been facing a staggering increase in rape cases. According to BBC News, 585 cases were recorded in the national capital of Delhi along with 484 in Mumbai, in 2012. Last year also saw massive protests by Indians in relation to the gang-rape of a young student in a bus in Delhi.

But despite the fact that authorities have strengthened laws against rape criminals, a 22-year-old photojournalist was recently gang-raped by five men in Mumbai. Like all other citizens, Bollywood celebrities, too, have expressed condemnation.

Actor Shabana Azmi, who is also a popular social activist, recently expressed her disapproval over politicians blaming migrants for the rise in crime against women. “Firstly, I would like to begin by condemning this horrible incident of gang-rape in the city of Mumbai, which we take in pride in calling the safest of India. But the incident has happened after the anti-rape law has been passed in Parliament,” said Azmi to the reporters at a fund-raising event, according to IANS. “The fact that it can happen with such impunity points out that people do not have fear instilled in them that the law will actually take its own course. This is very shocking, and the culprits should get the severest punishment possible.”

Shabana Azmi says that it is very unfortunate that politicians are blaming migrants for the rise in crime against women. PHOTO: FILE

Branding the trend of politicians jumping to conclusions as “hasty” and “unfortunate”, the 61-year-old said that one should focus on solutions, rather than “politicising the debate”. “To randomly make comments about why crimes are on the rise without going into any real social analysis would be a hasty decision. I think this is a very unfortunate way of saying that migrants are responsible for such incidents. If you look at the statistics of Maharashtra, more than 30% of the migration that takes place the state happens from its interiors only,” said Azmi.



“I would have hoped that instead of rushing to such hasty conclusions, we should look at the facts as they are and keep our concentration on making sure that each one of us, as active citizens, participates in whatever solutions are required to change the mindset that uses rape as a means of subjugation, instead of politicising the debate,” she asserted.

The actor, who herself has featured in a number of women-centric roles, has been quite active on the ‘crimes against women’ front. She was previously seen at a protest rally in New Delhi relating to the Delhi rape case and had accused the government of “diluting the potency” of the Justice Verma Committee report on sexual crimes. “We must keep pressure on the government, so that it implements the report in its totality,” she had said, reported the Hindustan Times.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2013.

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